Another Day, Another Destiny
by Fenwraith Auvryath
Summary: A young Star has watched the lives and deaths of Gavroche, Enjolras, Eponine, and Javert, and decided that they deserve to live again. The four are cast back into the mortal realm and are reborn far from the time and place they once lived.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

_The Bright One was beside itself with excitement. The one the Fading Ones called Azura was barely a hundred years old, barely born by their standards, and here it was being permitted to patrol the shores of the timeless sea all by itself. Well, for a time, anyway. Azura's minder, Acamar, had been called away from the shore for a moment, and would return soon. The Bright One did not allow this to diminish its joy._

_ It was the duty of those chosen to patrol the shores to aid the souls of those who washed up in their journeys. Most were simply shown the way to the place where they would be sorted. Followers of one god or another were sent to wherever they received judgment and then sent further on to whatever afterlife they had earned. Those who adhered to beliefs of rebirth were sent to another place, in order to be properly reborn. Azura loved to watch the mortal worlds. It loved to see the stories of their short lives unfold. Many Stars payed no mind to mortals. They considered them too short-lived to be worth much notice. But Azura felt that the sheer amount of life these tiny creatures packed into their short existences was incredible and worthy of admiration. The Fading Ones who knew Azura thought it to be just a fancy of youth, but one that they might as well put to use, and so Azura was sent to Acamar to learn to mind the shore. Azura hoped one day to join the Sentinels, but was more than happy to guide souls for now._

_ Four souls drifted toward the shore. Azura knew their faces, for it had watched them in their lives and in their deaths. Azura had been devastated to see them die. So bold and full of purpose, all of them had been. One was still a child by the standards of his kind. A young boy, who had lived in poverty, but had not let that stop him from dreaming of a better future. Two others were barely grown from childhood, a male and a female. Both had known the young boy, and looked after him at times. Both fought for the freedom of the oppressed. The young man had died in the fight for freedom. The poor girl had given her life to save the man she loved, though he had not loved her in return. Azura had wept for days over them. The last was a man grown, and though in his own way responsible for the deaths of the others, was no less a noble soul. He had only sought to maintain the order of the law. The law was everything to him. It was the sum of all that was right and just, and he sought to protect it to keep his world from chaos. He would have made a great Sentinel, had he been born a star. In the end, though, he was torn apart by two laws, both profound and both true, and so he had taken his own life. _

_ "Gavroche. Enjolras. Eponine. Javert." The Star whispered the names with reverence. All had been cut short, all had had so much more life in them to live. It was unfair. Why could they not have been given another chance? As soon as the thought occurred to Azura, it realized that perhaps they could. It was against the rules. Souls were to be guided to the places they were sorted. Azura was not much more than a glorified direction giver, but the Bright One was not to step outside of those bounds. It was the responsibility of others to decide what was done with them. But no one else was here._

_ Surely no one could be more worthy of another chance at life? And who would ever know, but Azura itself? It would be cautious. It would cast them into a part of the timeless sea far separated from whence they had come. And it would watch over them. For deep in its core, Azura knew it loved these mortals. Love was not for Stars. Love was a mortal thing. Stars were above such sentiment. So said the Fading Ones. But, as for many of the things the Fading Ones said, Azura did not care. And so the Bright One cast them back into the timeless sea to be reborn._


	2. Chapter 1

It had been a long day, although a fairly uneventful one. Perhaps that was what had made it seem so long. Just an ordinary day of patrols, a few calls here and there, though nothing exciting, just overzealous nosy neighbors. It didn't matter though. You got the call, you checked it out. That was the job. It always amused him when cars he drove by visibly slowed down, though few had been speeding in the first place. His crown vic police cruiser had that effect. Just as well. It was good for people to be reminded that the law was ever present. It helped maintain order. Just a shame that order wasn't always as exciting as when it was disturbed.

Officer Javert's shift was over, or at least as over as a cop's shift could be, so he was headed home, though not without stopping for coffee first. The ABC Café was an artsy-academic coffee house frequented mostly by college students and the like. It slightly annoyed Javert that whenever he walked in, conversations quieted down a bit. Many people here considered themselves liberal minded thinkers who knew everything that was wrong with the world, though didn't do a whole lot to change it. To them, he was "the man." Well, "the man" just wanted his coffee. This place was on his way home, the coffee was good, and it wasn't overpriced. Their guilty consciences weren't his problem. They could just deal with it.

The pretty brunette barista smiled at him and asked if he'd like his usual. "Thank you, that would be lovely," he said politely. Her nametag said 'Nina,' and, as he understood it, she was the owner's little sister. Angelo Ross had more in common with the patrons of his coffee house than with the police officer, but the two men had a mutual respect for each other. He payed Nina and thanked her again. He sipped his coffee; black, but for a pinch of cinnamon sugar. The first time he'd had coffee that way, it had been an accident. The shop had been very busy, and both Nina and Angelo had been darting furiously back and forth behind the counter, trying to meet everyone's needs. A bit of cinnamon sugar had accidentally been spilled into his coffee. Nina had offered to remake it, but he wasn't that picky and said he'd take it anyway. It had turned out to be delicious, and had become his usual.

On his way out of the shop, a young boy almost ran into him. The kid's face was harder than a kid's face should be, and his eyes spoke of clever defiance. He seemed familiar, but Javert couldn't place him.

"Gavin! You apologize to the policeman!" Nina scolded the boy. The boy smiled impishly and said his sorry, and then ran into the shop, behind the counter, and to the backroom.

"He yours?" Javert asked.

"He's our brother, yes. Sorry about that," Nina said. Javert nodded and tipped his hat in farewell as he left the shop.

Nina poked her head into the backroom to check that Gavin was behaving himself. The boy was doing his homework, as he was supposed to, though that didn't necessarily mean he'd stay that way. Gavin was a clever kid, but was as mischievous as they came. Loki would have been proud.

"You doing ok?" She asked.

"Uh-hmm." He grunted.

"Alright. You need any help, you let me know. And you should really watch where you're going in the future. You're lucky he likes our coffee."

His eyes glittered, "Maybe he just likes YOU."

"Come on, Gavin, now you're just being obnoxious."

"Maybe YOU like HIM!" he smiled wickedly.

"Gav—"

It was too late to stop him, and on he went in his best falsetto, "'Oh, mister policeman, I love your badge! It's so shiny! Can I touch your taser?'"

"Knock it off and do your homework!" she said, giving up and going back to the main room, shutting the door behind her to block out Gavin singing about her and the policeman sitting in a tree. Nina loved that kid to death, but sometimes she wished she really could love him to death.

Nina looked at the clock. Angelo would be there soon. Usually she worked till close on Thursdays, but her brother was coming in for her last hour today so she could practice for her audition tomorrow. Nina was trying for a place in the local symphony orchestra. It would mean less hours at the coffee shop if she got it. Not that she didn't like working at her brother's coffee shop, but she was studying music, and more time spent in pursuit of that goal was time better spent. She'd been playing the violin since she was ten, and quite enjoyed it. She'd come to live in St. Michael with her brother in order to go to the university near there, as they had an excellent music program.

Angelo was five years older than her, and made the bulk of his living writing articles in the internet. Their parents had hoped he'd go write for some newspaper or magazine, but he had found his niche online writing social and political commentaries that were both entertaining and informative, and he was good at it. The coffee shop was more of a side project. Angelo thought it gave him the opportunity to find out what was important to people today and what their opinions were. He felt it made him a better writer.

The shop wasn't too busy, being as it was an hour before closing time, so Nina cleaned and organized what she could before her brother got there. He came in and nodded greeting at her and said hello to the regulars who were there. "Off you go, Nina. I got this." He said. She grabbed her jacket and waved goodbye.

Gavin giggled to himself after Nina had left in defeat. She was fun to tease. But then, few people weren't. He liked the Ross siblings. They'd been kinder to him than anyone ever had been, although if it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be dealing with this math homework right now. But then, without them, he'd still be eating out of dumpsters. Most of their family didn't live in St. Michael, so no one had questioned them when their new "little brother" had come to live with them. The man and woman biologically responsible for him had never bothered looking for him when he ran away, so no one was the wiser. He knew he should try to behave better for them, but one's nature couldn't always be helped. Besides, so long as he didn't get into any real trouble, they didn't seem to mind his impishness. He mentally kicked himself for running into that cop. He'd always made it a point before to stay far below the radar of the police. Living good had made him less cautious. He'd need to watch that. He sighed, and went back to his homework.


	3. Chapter 2

_ Things hadn't gone quite as the Bright One had anticipated. It never meant for little Gavroche to be reborn into such suffering. Azura did the best it could, and through a nudge here and there, had managed to steer the boy back into the arms of Enjolras and Eponine. He was safe now, and happy. Azura was pleased that the two older souls had been reborn as siblings. Sadly, though, that did not mitigate the circumstances the Star now found itself in. No one had noticed it cast the souls back into the sea, but the Bright One's meddling in the new life of Gavroche had not gone unseen by the Sentinels. Upon inquiry, it had not taken them long to realize what had happened. Now Azura sat before three Fading Ones and a small audience of Stars of all ages to be judged. _

_ "Bright One, called Azura, you have been found guilty not only of meddling unpermitted in the lives of mortals, but also of causing the rebirth of four souls without proper authorization or procedure. Do you care to explain yourself?"_

_ "Forgive me, Aldebaran. I did these things knowing they were forbidden to me, but I still feel that my actions were correct. These souls were good and true, all of them, and all of them were taken before their time." Azura said solemnly._

_ "You feel?" Antares said, "You FEEL your actions were correct? To make decisions and take actions based upon feeling is a mortal weakness. It has no place among the Stars. Furthermore, who are you to decide when it is a soul's time to pass? A soul passes at the time it passes. Again, this very notion of there being a proper time for a soul to pass is the fancy of mortal minds. It has been reported that you often spend time observing their worlds, but no one would have thought that this would so thoroughly corrupt your good sense, child!"_

_ Aldebaran reached to calm Antares, and then asked, "It is said that you seek the path of a Sentinel, is this correct?"_

_ "Yes, Aldebaran."_

_ "It is a noble path you seek. Tell me, what purpose does a Sentinel serve?"_

_ "To watch over the universe, and to maintain the order of it."_

_ "Correct. Yet your actions have corrupted the order. Souls that were not meant to be reborn not only were, but were reborn without the proper precautions. No measures were put in place to prevent them from remembering their past lives. Now, this is unlikely, to be sure, but I ask for a moment that you imagine what grief this would cause them if they did remember?"_

_ "I do not doubt they would be upset," Azura murmured softly._

_ "Upset is an understatement," Antares said, "Take, for instance, the soul once called Eponine, now called Nina. You no doubt observed that in her past life she was romantically attached to a male named Marius, though he did not share her attachment. You had no way of knowing whether or not this was simple infatuation or if he was her soulmate. Suppose he was? Imagine, now, that she remembers what happened to her? Granted, it is not something Stars experience, but imagine existing in her place, knowing that the one soul that was truly your destiny is forever gone. Imagine living with that agony. Even that is barely scratching the surface of what damage you may have caused."_

_ "I…I did not consider that."_

_ "It does not seem you considered very much at all."_

_ "I had intended to watch over them."_

_ "Which brings us to your meddling in the life of the child Gavin. What do you have to say about that?" Antares asked._

_ "It is true I know nothing of how to influence a soul's rebirth. But I have studied the ways that Stars influence the mortal realm. When I saw that Gavroche had been reborn into a life of suffering, I acted to correct the error I caused. He is safe now." _

_ "In body, perhaps. Though not in mind." Antares said._

_ Aldebaran continued, "You could not have known this, but in bringing these souls together once again, you have only increased the likelihood that they will remember their past lives."_

_ "I…I am sorry. I did not know. I can see now how foolish I was. Little that it may mean, please understand, I only wanted happiness for these people. I will accept whatever punishment you see fit."_

_ "Your intent does not help to ameliorate your actions, but it is not without meaning. We will discuss a fitting punishment and inform you of our decision when it is reached. In the meantime, you are to return to your home, where you will be watched by the Sentinel Asterion. You are dismissed."_

…

Javert woke up at 3:30 in the morning. He sat up and walked to his kitchen in the dark, ignoring the ever present pain in his back. Pain was nothing. He finally realized where he had seen that kid's face before. It was one of the many faces that haunted him in nightmares he did not understand. Tonight's was one he'd had before, though it had never been so disturbing. He had been walking down a cobblestone street that was lined with the corpses of young men and women. Only this time, he recognized the boy. He would have told himself that this was just his mind playing sick tricks on him, except that he distinctly remembered that he had seen that face in this dream before he had ever met Gavin Ross.

He drained a glass of water and set it down by the sink. Was he mad? Damaged, more likely. His mother had probably just snorted one too many while she was pregnant with him. Or maybe she'd picked up some microbe or another while she was in the prison where he was born. Or maybe one of her boyfriends had just hit him over the head just a little too hard when he was a kid.

Now that he thought about it, a couple of the bodies might have looked like Nina and Angelo, too. A little too dirty and bloody to tell, though. At least, without a closer look, and he did not relish the thought of having that dream again. He was probably just paranoid anyway. He hoped so, anyway. The worst part of the dream, the part that escalated it from terrible dream to nightmare, was the overwhelming sense of responsibility he had felt. He was the reason those people were dead. Their blood was on his hands. And then there was the sense that the guilty one had gotten away…

His phone rang. He was being called in. Well, he was awake anyway. Javert dressed with quick efficiency and heeded duty's call.

Nina was also awake when she should have been sleeping. She had gone to bed early when her practice had been cut short by her stomach pains. They seemed to occur randomly, and doctors never had found a discernible medical reason for them. She had fallen asleep when they subsided, but they had started again and woken her. She sat on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest, willing the pain to go away. She tried to distract herself by staring at the night sky out her window. The stars were so beautiful, and the night was clear. How simple it must be to be a star, she thought to herself. She whispered a prayer to the sky that her pain would not interfere with her audition tomorrow (or today, as the case may be). She heard the soft sounds of keys clacking two rooms away. Angelo was still up, typing. She considered going to see what he was working on, but decided she didn't want him to worry about her. Nina lay back down, humming the song she had been practicing. She closed her eyes and willed sleep to return.


End file.
